Here she is!

Here she is! That's my Granddaughter in the middle with her parents.

Isn't she adorable?!?!?

So, she was the reason for our trip to California. Here's the group picture.

I hadn't been to California for about 14 years! Can't honestly remember the last time I was there, but not since I moved to Canada.
And, so you know, some of us got older. I don't know how she went from 5 to 17 so fast! I honestly think the rest of us are all the same age, though, right?

I also got to see these awesome amazing friends! We go back to when our kids were quite a bit younger and stealing all of the teriyaki chicken out of the kitchen. The story goes like this. We had some really good Teriyaki chicken and decided to leave the dish in the kitchen so the adults could be alone in the other room. Well, the 7 kids decided it was time to devour and thus they did, leaving none for the adults.

These friends never change! They will always be the kind of friends that anyone would LOVE to have. I am so greatful they wanted to see me. The responsiblity to keep in touch better now.

And here she is again with her two beautiful aunts!

The trip was AMAZING!

I honestly have to say, you can keep those freeways, though! And those parking lots! A scrape on the side of the rental car put quite a damper on an otherwise AWESOME trip! That and the flood in my basement at home. But I will always remember that I actually got to be there for another big event in her life! The first being her birth!!!!

Last Trip to Moose Jaw, SK

We have made a few trips to Moose Jaw, Sask lately. We wish for better reasons, but sadly, my hubby's Mom passed away this March. We made what will probably be our last trip there about 3 weeks ago. His sister was able to fly down here and travel with us for the funeral. We had such a nice turnout and it was so nice to hear such nice things about her and all the kind things she had done for others. We will miss her!

We decided to visit a few people, the tourist attractions in Moose Jaw like Al Capones tunnels, and take a few side trips with the family. She was from Avonlea, Sask. so we took a deteor there to see the town. If you look closely, that's Don Cherry-hockey guy-peaking out the window! I did not know he was from Avonlea!!!! Well, maybe he was just visiting.

Then, on a whim, we all decided to travel to Rouleau, Sask where the Canadian show "Corner Gas" was taped. We were following the other car and one small wrong turn meant we were on a road that felt like the middle of a corn field! Pretty Scary, I must say! And, the GPS kept telling us to turn onto the HWY. Well, that was the original idea. A few vehicle problems- like the other car overheating, but we did make it! And, let me tell you, after that trip... we were getting pictures! No matter HOW cold and windy it was!

I took these from the car..the WARM car.

My hubbys sister, his son, daughter and family were with us. AND our Grandaughter! She is 4 and very tall so she is practicing her "model" stance. Isn't she adorable!

What a cutie! WE LOVE HER!

Not sure if we will ever make it back to Moose Jaw.

Kind of like saying good-bye for my hubby and his sister since they were raised there.

A tiny visit from Ecuador

It's been almost a year.

But we managed to fit in about 10 days of visiting, service-service-service,

and several dollar stores!

This is one amazing kid! We did see pictures, I think none doctored, of her helping with the remodel of the Kingdom Hall in Ecuador. She DID use a sledge hammer even! I'm sure, about as tall as her!

Jim bought us both flowers, and since she could not take them back, I now have two bouquets!

It won't be another year before I see her. I will be off again this Thursday and will meet up with her then.

I'm too old for this jet-setting life!

Michigan and BEYOND!

WE MADE IT!

I so misjudged my travel group! They all arrived, with the help of their driver not only on time, actually early!! The picture taking took up the extra time we gained by her being early. We did, however, make it out of town by 6:15 AM! WOW! Most of us tired, but we fit it ALL in! 6 woman and ALL the luggage!

If you can see, our tiara's a bit tilty, but we were all in costume!

We made it to our 1st destination about 11:30PM. We were able to shop on the way-would you expect less of 6 women?


We needed an adjustment because of a booking error. We booked for 4 people (We had great reasoning at the time-4 people per room! But they were actually looking for the TOTAL number of people in 2 rooms! Ooops.) But the hotel was awesome about the change. Rooms all okay.



UNLIKE the other hotels! I evidently have a hotel-booking-bad-experience problem! The second hotel in Romulus was a HUGE nightmare! Smoking-no A/C room problem. We ended up with 1 King bed and a single rollaway, requesting another rollaway bed. The management was VERY VERY VERY uncooperative.


But, we managed to make it to the Assembly on Saturday and looked pretty amazing!

Day 4 we drove to Minneapolis and did more shopping!!

This was an amazing part of the trip. We managed to fill 2 carts with goodies from IKEA and fit it all in the van WITH all of us and our luggage and our water AND popcorn in the shoes. (No road trip is a road trip without goodies!) Shoulda got the pic but not sure at that point where my camara was.

Again, hotel problems that night-no hot water and no A/C. Monday was again shopping at Mall of America and Albertville. Still fit it all in!

We made it home pretty late Monday. Some had work on Tuesday. I was home at 1AM and was not getting out of it even if I was awake at 5:30!

Lots of memories. We have the foot in the mirror, we had the hair on the leg contest, we had the steam-roller event. We had that morning person waking everyone up at 6AM problem (Really, guys, I was sorry for the time error!) We had conversations with truckers and a man with an alpaca while stuck in road construction traffic! Lots of hilarious moments.

And thanks to our GPS we made it! Won't leave home and EVER travel without it! You do have to be smarter than the GPS though. It made us miss a dinner with friends and be at the wrong restaurant! I guess you have to know the exact name of the city you want directions in! Still managed to get in some Tequilla shooters!

A clean van again and after a bit of jet lag, back on schedule!

The Crazy clock lady

I have been crazy! busy lately, and haven't done my blog. So I'm making an effort today. And, it's about 6:30, been up for an hour, of course. Even though it's a holiday up here in Canada, and I was up watching a Sandra Bullock movie until after midnight, I was still up at 5:30.
I read this Prevention article about people like me. Ones that wake up at the same time of day every day without an alarm. And only need about 6-7 hours sleep. It said it is a "genetic mutation". Well, that's a revelation! Makes me feel pretty specialized, although I'm still tired today. I don't think I got my quota.

So, sorry about the crazy clock lady picture!